CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: A 20-year-old woman was killed and six others were severely injured after a boat collided with a break wall and capsized in Lake Michigan. The incident took place at around 3.30 am on Friday, July 28 near the popular “Playpen” area frequented by boaters near the Navy Pier. Following the initial search, six injured victims were rescued from the water.
Four women, ages 21, 22, 27, and 31, and two men, ages 38 and 40, were rushed to Stroger and Northwestern Memorial hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. A seventh passenger, who was identified as Briana Joy Burden, was later found dead, trapped under the vessel that flipped over after it struck a break wall in choppy conditions. Burden’s body was recovered after the search was temporarily called off because of poor weather, police said. Officials believe the boat was returning to the shore when a "huge increase in wind and wave activity" caused it to crash against the brick wall.
Who was Briana Joy Burden?
Burden's body was eventually recovered at around 10 am on Friday. An autopsy later determined that her death was caused by multiple injuries and drowning related to the boat hitting a fixed object. Her death was ruled an accident, according to the medical examiner’s office. Burden’s father, Angelo Ayala, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the loss of his daughter is “devastating.” “I’m so sad that everybody got hurt,” he said, adding, “People made it, my baby didn’t make it.” The grieving father revealed that Burden worked at a nursing home and briefly at an Amazon Foods store.
Ayala added that Burden was always positive and wanted to help guide children through any troubles they might face. Burden is survived by her parents and two sisters, 18 and 24. The father remembered how Burden’s sisters begged her not to visit the lake with her friends because of the weather. “We are all a mess, but we’re strong, we’ll get through this. It’s horrible to lose a child,” Ayala said as he broke down in tears. Police are currently investigating the incident, trying to determine who owns the boat and whether or not it was being rented out at the time.
Police find another male body
During a press conference on Friday, Deputy District Chief in charge of Marina Dive Operations for the Chicago Fire Department, Jason Lach, described how they located Burden’s body. "We went from one knot to a three-knot wind, with gusts over 30 miles an hour. We went from wave heights of six inches to a foot, and up to three to four inches off the National Weather buoy a the same time this was going on," he noted. Lach continued by noting that crews also discovered a male body in the water, which they suspect to be from a different incident "because of the time of travel, the location, and the decomposition of the body.” Officials also warned that it is not unusual for them to have 'two or three water responses,' as people go out on Lake Michigan at all times of day, according to Daily Mail.
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